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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: stem · chair · lean · band · net · race · snap · field

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. lean — to bend
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. race — humankind
  5. stem — to come from
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. race — the arms race
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a ring
  12. net — in sport
  13. race — a contest
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. net — after costs
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. lean — thin
  21. net — for catching
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — farmland
  24. field — a subject

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com